Savior of the Wolves
Chapter 20

Aiden’s POV

I only trusted Zeb with the information. He was part of the detail that helped us last night. So he knew most everything anyway. I knew, if anyone, he would do exactly what I asked AND never breathe a word to a soul.

“I’m here,” he linked to me from outside of the door.

It had to have taken me five minutes to move my body inch by inch off the bed without disturbing her.

I quietly opened the door to find my best friend standing there with to-go boxes held in his outstretched hands.

“I owe you one,” I said, grabbing the food from him. I stood in the middle of the doorway to prevent a straight view into the room behind me.

He looked over my shoulder, towards the bed, and gave me a playful smile, “I see you’ve recovered well brother.”

“Don’t,” I warned. Even though it was him, I didn’t want teasing over this. Not over her.

“Just playing man. We good. We good,” he teased, backing up slowly with his arms outstretched in front of him, palms facing me, as he gave me a playful smile and wink. He turned to leave without another word.

I just shook my head.

Somewhere during the night, I realized that my breaks were completely healed. I had no pain anywhere...except for what was growing in my chest. It felt more intense than any of the broken bones I had to endure during the night. I kept finding myself taking deep breaths to help my chest…not that it worked.

Most of the night felt like a dream. God, she was torturing my skin, and even though I knew she didn’t lay down here with the intention of being this sultry, I was dying. Aching. Her head never left my chest, but she moved slightly, draping her leg over mine. It jolted me awake instantly. She cradled into me more tightly and I could feel the softer flesh between her legs pressed against my leg. I wanted to pull her on top of me and finish losing my mind, but I couldn’t. I had to maintain some level of control. For her. I just got her back.

So, it felt like every hour on the hour I awoke again, looked at her face and the clock and drifted back off to sleep with a smile on my face.

Eventually, as the slight evidence of a sunrise began to show through the window, I linked to Jeb who agreed to sneak breakfast to our room.

“I have breakfast,” I said softly, looking down at her. She looked so peaceful that I hated to bother her. But I was ravished. After the night we had, the physical labor she had been through with me in the river, I knew she needed to eat.

She opened her eyes slowly and I could see the moment that reality settled in her mind as her look turned into a wide-eyed stare. It felt intimate to watch her crawl out of the covers that I just shared with her. I could sense how I made her feel but the magic around her kept my senses from getting all the way through to her. It was hiding something. And it had my head and my nerves on edge.

She sat straight up and began tucking the blankets around her waist.

I wanted to take a hand and kiss it. I wanted to smell her closer to me again…just like last night. I wanted to look her in the eyes and beg her not to be nervous around me. But I didn’t.

“You need to eat,” I said, handing a box to her.

She held out her hand to take it, all the while never looking away from my face.

Time seemed to stop. I just wanted to stay like this. Just looking at her. Feeling her eyes on me.

She nervously shook her head.

“How are you okay?” she said in shock. My upper body no longer had the bloody gauze from before. I had removed it all when I got up but had forgotten.

I looked down at myself.

“We heal fast,” I explained.

“Yeah, that’s what Josh said.”

She opened the lid to her box and looked back up at me oddly…probably because she found exactly what she had eaten most days this week. I didn’t understand it either…why her food preferences mattered to me. I had been secretly watching her. I was only beginning to see now that it all mattered to me. Even the little things. I just didn’t understand why.

“Thanks,” she said softly, looking back at her food and I swear I saw a touch of pink appear on her cheeks. I almost smiled but quickly looked down at my food and sat in the chair beside the bed. We both quietly ate.

My senses were heightened with her around me. I could hear her swallow and oddly enjoyed every little sound that she made. I tried not to look up when an increase in her heart rate caught my attention. Again.

How did she do that to me? I swear, the instant her heart rate increased, I had to take deeper breaths to calm mine down. Again!

Our eyes met a few times as we ate, and she quickly looked away. I, however, did not. I could not stop looking at her.

Why?

Yes, she was beautiful. But there was more than beauty to her. It felt like a connection but that didn’t make sense. I didn’t know her. But something about her felt like that was a lie.

If she would’ve looked up, I probably would’ve scared her half to death. I know with my whirling thoughts that my eyes had to be obviously dissecting her.

She glanced over to the table and at a water bottle. I immediately stood to grab it and handed it to her.

She gave me a smile that looked…appreciative. I was really beginning to love that feeling from her. My wolf did too. He seemed happy. Something that was foreign to him. It wasn’t like he was mad since I turned. He was so many things, but happy wasn’t one of them.

Until now.

Her nervousness seemed to grow as she began to play with her food, I knew the moment was here. She was avoiding it and so was I.

The wolf in the room.

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